By one analysis conducted by Nikkei Asian Review, typical end user internet access speed in Japan has fallen, in a comparative sense, since 2015, though Japan’s average speed ranking, compared to other OECD countries, has risen since 2010.
But the broadband speed data seems inconsistent. Other studies do now show that shift in speed ranking. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development statistics, for example, still show Japan in the top ranks for typical internet download speed.
Those sorts of differences in average speeds and country ranking are common. To be sure, changes happen all the time.
The Nikkei study suggests Japan's evening communication speeds are slower than those of Thailand and Malaysia which shored up their optical communication lines. Taiwan and Singapore have surpassed Japan for average daytime speed.
According to that analysis, Tokyo's speed was about 12.6 Mbps in January-April 2018. Sweden and Denmark speeds are now around 40 Mbps, while the United States and United Kingdom have overtaken Japan in communications speeds.
Nikkei extracted and analyzed data from 199 countries and regions, aided by the University of Tokyo's Koshizuka Laboratory. The analysis was conducted using data released by M-Lab, a communications speed measurement project involving U.S. tech company Google and Princeton University.
Japan's communications speed varies significantly between day and night, when more videos are watched. The country's typical speed of 5 Mbps at 10 p.m. is just one-fourth of its morning figure. The average nighttime speed is comparable to that of Russia's, Nikkei argues.
Korea 28.6
Norway 23.5
Sweden 22.5
Switzerland 21.7
Finland 20.5
Japan 20.2
Denmark 20.1
United States 18.7
Netherlands 17.4
Czech Republic 16.9
United Kingdom 16.9
Latvia 16.6
Belgium 16.3
Canada 16.2
Ireland 15.6
Spain 15.5
Germany 15.3
OECD average 15.25
Hungary 14.8
New Zealand 14.7
Lithuania 14.6
Austria 14.1
Israel 13.7
Slovenia 13.7
Slovak Republic 13
Portugal 12.9
Poland 12.6
Russia 11.8
Estonia 11.6
Luxembourg 11.6
Australia 11.1
France 10.8
Chile 9.3
Italy 9.2
Greece 7.9
Turkey 7.6
Mexico 7.5
Colombia 5.5
